I write about my life and life itself seen through my eyes for who can write through the experiences of others if not their own?

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Laughter, Best Medicine?

Self effacing has been my preferred form of humor since my
early years. I found out how effective it was when it helped me avoid the
bullying of my classmates.

I quickly realized the bullies enjoyed it when the victim
was visibly upset. In fact, they would increase their tormenting jokes, but
they would let up if there was no reaction or if the targeted person enjoyed
the pranks as I did. I became good at laughing at myself before they could. I
became my own best bully. Eventually they stopped the teasing and accepted me
and even made me their friend.

The insecurity of my early years carried into adulthood and so did my self effacing. Making fun of myself gave me the chance to laugh at me before anyone else could. It protected me. More importantly, by laughing at myself, I was able to laugh with others.

Laugh with others,
that’s the key word.

I do not laugh at
others.

Simply put I know what it feels like to be embarrassed in
public.

Here is the difference; I laugh when my friends joke about
their weight, but I never make a fat joke. They are the masters of their own
humor when it comes to their body. They own the right to make fun of it. I do not.

Social media has provided an arena for those of us who enjoy
self effacing, but simultaneously, it has also become a forum for hurtful,
humiliating, and embarrassing comments that can be funny on a one on one
setting, but not in a public site.

While I am good at my “own people’s” comments, my accent is
the target of many unwanted and unsolicited jokes.

Recently while talking to a friend, the lady sitting with
him repeated most of my sentences and followed it with a hard laugh. Twice I
expanded on what I had said thinking perhaps it needed explaining. Finally, I
asked “do you feel the same?” She replied with a laugh, “no, it’s just the way
you say it”. If the woman thinks that kind of mockery is funny, she is sadly
mistaken.

Humor serves many functions. It can serve as a pleasant
exchange. It can ease the tension in a conversation, but there is a fine line that
should not be crossed in humor or we’ll end up embarrassing or offending
someone.

The world is a better place when we laugh with someone. But
if you must laugh at someone, let
that person be yourself.

What I write – Why I write
I write about life
About running,
About my impressions.
I’d like to call my writing
Impressionism.

All I write will be shaded
By my ideology
And I can not pretend
To be phonily neutral
For no one can be

I write because it is free.
Because it’s not censored
And
Because it is I

I write about my experience
and my observations of others
What I have felt
And what I could have felt

I write about my feelings of today,
The people in my life now and
The ones in my life yesterday
However many years ago.
I can write the feelings
of twenty years ago
With the same intensity
that I would have back then.

Bear with me
For what is life but
a long string of events
All affecting one another